Whenever a new leader assumes power, the transition sparks anxiety typical of human nature’s concern about the liminal, of boundaries and unpredictablity. One of the ways people have dealt with this unease is through the observance of rituals. Repeated ceremonies bring continuity, and are laden with symbolism that gives meaning to the authority of the ascending ruler. Here you see the “Crown of Monomachus” dating from the middle of the eleventh century, and it highlights the careful attention that Byzantine rulers paid to the rituals surrounding their coronations.
For over a thousand years, Byzantine Emperors ruled over the eastern portion of the former Roman Empire, and of course across such a long span of time upsets and contested claims to imperial authority occurred. Rulers had time on their side for developing rituals to cement their transition to power. Visual spectacle was one of the most important — on the day of their coronation and after, emperors wore specific items of clothing: the Imperial purple garb reserved only for members of the royal family, a special sash adorned with jewels, pearls, and embroidery (called the _loros_), red shoes, and a bag which held dust, symbolic of the ultimate transience of the material world. You can see some of these adornments on the engraving of the emperor pictured here.
Byzantine Emperors also had God on their side, or at any rate, they overtly claimed to. Starting in the mid 5th-century, incoming emperors were crowned (usually in the cathedral of Hagia Sophia) by the highest-ranking bishop, the patriarch of Constantinople. The emperor claimed to have his authority granted by God: you can see the second image from about 1000 CE Christ anointing the emperor and empress – both mortals have halos. The emperor Marcian of the fifth century “declared on several occasions that he was elected to the throne not only by the Senate and the army but by God also”.
The Byzantine Emperors managed to govern a state that lasted centuries — but the ceremonies they mustered did not always mean their governance was uncontested.
Source(s): “Coronation and its constitutional significance in the later Roman Empire,” Peter Charanis, _Byzantion_, 1940-1941, vol 15, pp. 49-66. Wikipedia for the images and description of the crown.
